Suicide bombings mark violent weekend in Israel

JERUSALEM —Israel has again been rocked by a spate of Palestinian bombings.

The weekend bombings included attacks in Israeli cities and in the Gaza Strip.

In Jerusalem, a car bomb exploded in the packed downtown district of Jerusalem on early Sunday. Officials said nobody appeared injured from the explosion. The car that exploded was in a parking lot about 10 meters from the city's main police station.

But officials said the attack appeared aimed at Israeli revelers. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the blast. Witnesses said they saw two Palestinians flee from the car minutes before the blast.

On Friday, two Palestinian attackers were killed in a failed car bombing attack in a northern Israeli city. Israeli authorities said the car blew up outside the central bus station in the northern city of Hadera on Friday. The Palestinian driver and another two passengers were killed. At least 65 passersby were injured.

The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility. Palestinian sources said the Jihad works with the far larger Hamas in attacking Israeli targets.

"We want to plant terror in the heads of the enemies," Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin said.

Near the West Bank city of Nablus, a Fatah combatant was killed when a car he was driving exploded. Three other Fatah members were killed in the explosion.

The bombings took place as Israeli army and police units ended the search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed wedding hall in Jerusalem. Authorities said 24 people were killed.

Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz said the military has not detected signs of Arab preparations for war. But he told the Israeli daily, the Jerusalem Post, that he cannot rule out that such signs would appear in several months.